For the next seven days, my purpose is Background.
Not the background as in something unimportant.
The opposite.
I want to pay attention to the things that usually remain unnoticed: the extras, the setting, the weather, the room, the landscape, the circumstances surrounding the scene.
The things happening behind the obvious story.
Because without the background, there is no story.
A character standing alone on an empty stage tells us very little.
But place that character in a dimly lit kitchen at midnight, with rain tapping against the windows and a half-written letter on the table, and suddenly we begin to understand.
The setting changes the meaning.
The weather changes the mood.
The people in the background change the choices being made. The details we might otherwise overlook become the context that makes the story comprehensible.
There is no story without the background.
This is what I want to explore during this waxing gibbous phase of my lunar cycle.
My 4-Week Lunar Cycle Purpose is The Stage.
As Shakespeare wrote, all the world’s a stage…
But what if I have been thinking too much about the performance?
What if I have been caught up watching the characters, the dialogue, the conflict, the hero, the villain, the ordeal? What if the stage itself has been influencing the entire production?
Through my Quantum MeMoir practice, I am working to understand the performance of humanity differently.
Not simply by asking:
What is my role?
But:
What is happening around me?
What is influencing the scene?
What is quietly shaping the story?
What has been present all along, but remained in the background?
I want to experiment with this…
To play with it. To observe it. To notice the environment. And perhaps this is especially timely because I am “Approaching the Ordeal” in the Heroine’s 4- Week Journey.
The point where I eventually meet the dragon... or the shadow. Or whatever appears to stand between me and the thing I have chosen to pursue.
On my Quantum MeMoir note pages, I have a place for these types of Challenges, Shadows, or Blocks.
But as I looked at my purpose for this seven-day cycle, I realized something unexpected. I cannot currently identify a challenge between me and my commitment.
There is no obvious obstacle. No known dragon waiting in the bushes. No innate block that I can see. And that realization made me think about Maslow’s hierarchy of needs.
Perhaps I have reached a place in my life where I am no longer primarily struggling against the bottom of the pyramid.
I am not focused on finding food.
Shelter
Safety
Basic survival
Companionship
I have the opportunity to think about something else. To pursue something else…
To ask:
What do I want to create with this life?
And when the basic struggles are no longer occupying the entire stage, a different kind of challenge emerges.
The unknown…
The things I cannot prepare for.
The block I do not know is coming.
The weather
The mood
The interruption
The person who enters the scene
The thing in the background that suddenly becomes part of the story.
So my challenge is not to prepare for the specific obstacle I already know will appear. Because I don’t know what it will be.
My challenge is to prepare myself to respond well to whatever appears.
To remain observant. Flexible. Resourceful. Present. To recognize that the thing I initially perceive as an interruption may actually be part of the story… a bridge.
Maybe the unexpected thing is not taking me away from the quest. Maybe it is the background of the quest.
Maybe the story was never simply:
I chose a goal, and now I must overcome the obstacle between me and the goal.
Maybe the story is:
I chose a direction, and now I must learn how to move through the world as it actually is.
The background will change.
The weather will change.
The extras will enter and leave.
The scene will shift.
And I will have to respond.
My purpose for this seven-day cycle: BACKGROUND
So for the next seven days, I am going to watch the background.
I want to see what I usually overlook.
The details that seem irrelevant.
The things that influence the scene without announcing themselves.
The context surrounding the story.
Because maybe the background is the invisible force that makes the story possible. And maybe the next dragon I meet will not be waiting in front of me. Maybe it will be something I notice happening quietly around me.
I will observe The Stage.
The extras
The setting
The weather
The circumstances
The things that shape the story before the characters even realize they are in one.
And I will see what happens when I stop treating the background as scenery...
and start recognizing it as part of the plot.
An Invite to Write Along…
If you want to write along with me, you are welcome to.
You don’t need to understand the entire Quantum MeMoir practice before you begin. You can simply start paying attention to your own background.
Subscribe and follow along here, and if you want to explore the practice more directly, reach out to me. I can point you in the right direction.
You can also find my journaling resources in my Etsy shop and explore my Quantum MeMoir Journals on Amazon if you would like something to write with as you begin creating your own Quantum MeMoir.
You don’t have to wait for the perfect story. You can begin with the scene you are already standing in.
Your Muse,
Molly MissUnderstood
The background is such a huge influence... and yet we often forget that when we are so lost in the story!